


Gotta Learn Somehow

by bluebellren



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Trans Character, transphobic language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 18:39:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5676484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebellren/pseuds/bluebellren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luffy overhears Sanji talking about where he was for his two years of training and does not like what he hears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gotta Learn Somehow

It wasn't that Luffy really kept it a secret, it was just that no one really knew unless they asked. Out of his 8 friends, only half knew and they had only found when Luffy just revealed it nonchalantly. But the fact that they had accepted that Luffy was a transmale and still loved and respected him nonetheless, made him really loved them even more.

XXXXXXX

Zoro found out near the very beginning of it all. There wasn't much privacy on their tiny little boat so when Luffy somehow got his head stuck in his binder taking it off to sleep, Zoro had taken upon himself to help to the rubber boy get unstuck. He was rewarded with Luffy's bright smile, as Luffy put his red vest back on. Zoro looked at the black fabric in his hand in confusion, before handing it back to his captain. He wanted to know what it was, but didn't think it was his place to ask. He watched as Luffy folded the fabric carefully and placed it next to him and got into a comfortable position for a nap. Just as Zoro thought Luffy was going to fall asleep, he heard the younger boy ask,

"Aren't you going to ask?" Zoro shook his head.

"It's your business, not mine. I figured you'd tell me if you wanted to," He heard Luffy hum in response, and was quiet for a few moments, staring up at the sky. It was, then, Luffy told a story about a little girl who was uncomfortable with herself and had knew in her mind that she were a boy, but no one would listen. There was a woman who listened and gave the now little boy more comfortable clothes that suit her better, but no one still listened. It wasn't until a redhaired pirate captain had come to town and flipped their world upside down. The captain listened to him, and said,

"If you say you're a boy, then you're a boy. It's simple," The pirate captain would get yelled at several times by townspeople, saying that he was confusing the poor girl but the only thing confusing the boy was the townspeople saying he was confused. The pirate crew respected the little boy's wishes, used the right pronouns, made sure he felt comfortable. The boy fell in love with the idea of being a pirate, and the red-haired captain was his favorite person in the world at that moment. The boy made the captain a promise and vowed to keep it. And as the boy grew up, he focused on becoming stronger. Only for a little, he was still uncomfortable with his body. It was still feminine in appearance. But the woman who helped with his clothes when he was younger found fabric that was called a binder. The fabric hid his breasts, giving his chest a flat appearance and he felt comfortable for once.

Once Luffy was done with the story, he picked the fabric up and looked at it, smiling. He remembered the day Makino gave him the binder, he couldn't thank her enough or stop hugging her and crying. He lowered his straw hat over his eyes, before saying to Zoro,

"If you don't want me as your captain anymore, I'll understand. Once we hit land, you can leave if you want," He lost friends after Shanks left, it hurt but he didn't let him bother him. They weren't respecting him anyway, made him feel like a girl. And while he knew girls were strong and could probably be as good as he was, he wasn't one.

He heard Zoro scoff, felt him get comfortable as well.

"You're still my captain. You said it yourself. You said you're a male, so you are. No one decides who you are, but you. You're still going to become the Pirate King, and I'm still going to become the World's Best Swordsman, and that's all that's to it," 

XXXXXXX

Nami was the next person to find out. Luffy had unfortunately run out of pads for his time of the month, so he had sneaked into the girls' room to search for some. He was already feeling ill and his cramps were messing with him. He hadn't really expected for Nami to also sneak behind him and scare him.

"What are you doing?" Lufffy let out a yelp and fell to the floor, and just as Nami was getting ready to hit him and yell at him for sneaking into the girls' side like a pervert, he blurted out.

"You're the only girl on the ship, do you have any extra pads?" Luffy covered his head, as Nami was caught in surprise. 

"What? What would you need those for?" Luffy looked up at her, relieved that he hadn't been hit, but still embarrassed that he had been caught.

"Oh, because I just need one that's all,"

"But, you're a boy,"

"Yeah, so? Some boys have periods too, you know," Just as he said that, Nami was reminded back to a time when Bellemere had taught her and Nojiko about puberty. That there were multiple genders, that if someone asked for a pad, whether they were shy or nervous or confident about asking for one, and regardless of what gender they appeared to be, to give them one. Nami never really thought much about it after that. She stood up and walked over to her bookshelf, and pulled a box off of it. She pulled a pad out and handed it to Luffy, who was just looking her confused.

"No questions?" He looked ready to tell if needed, but Nami shook her head.

"Nope. Oh wait, I have painkillers for cramps if you need some too,"

"Really?! That would be amazing, thanks Nami,"

XXXXXXX

Chopper was the third, and it was really only because he had to take Luffy's binder off to make sure Luffy was bandaged correctly. And Doctorine had suggested they take it off of him anyhow, because it was a bit irresponsible to let their patient fall asleep with it on. When Chopper questioned about the binder, Doctorine handed him some books about transgender principles, human gender and sexuality to help him better understand his patient. 

Later on as he turned into the Strawhats' ship doctor, he sat Luffy down to ask some questions.

"Alright, Luffy, as your doctor, I need to know a few things about you and your binding," Once Luffy nodded, Chopper continued on.

"How long do you bind during a day?" Luffy looked down at his chest, with a frown.

"From the time I wake up to the time to sleep," Chopper frowned.

"You don't take any breaks and take it off for a few hours," Luffy shook his head 'no'.

"That's not good, Luffy. You're only supposed to bind 6 to 8 hours a day," Luffy frowned; he didn't know that.

"How long have you had it on right now?" Luffy looked over at the clock above Chopper's head. He could've sworn he woke up around 9 that morning, and it was now 3 in the afternoon, and that's exactly what he told Chopper. Chopper just sighed,

"Luffy, take it off. Let your chest take a rest, you could harm yourself if you keep doing that," Chopper turned around to give Luffy the privacy to take his binder off. Once his binder was off, Luffy told Chopper about the discomfort of not having his binder on, that he hated looking down at his chest without it, that he didn't feel like himself.

"That may be gender dysphoria. It will come and go. You said that you feel better and more like yourself with your binder on, right? Once the break is over with and you can put your binder back on, you'll feel like yourself," Chopper smiled up at Luffy, and Luffy smiled back.

"So how long is this break going to be?"

"Only a couple of hours today, and starting tomorrow, you going to start having an hour break to get used to it. After a few weeks, the breaks can be short but as long as they add up to an hour at less," Luffy nodded, understanding.

"Maybe to help with the dysphoria, borrow some of Sanji's sweatshirts or Zoro's shirt. The bagginess of the clothes could help distract you somewhat," With that, Luffy stood up and started to rummage through Zoro's bag of clothes, pulling out one of his short sleeved button-up shirts. Once it was, it did help Luffy a little but he knew it wasn't enough. He yawned, watched as Chopper put things away in his medical bag.

"Hey Chopper, wanna take a nap?" Chopper looked up at his captain in confusion. He did feel a little tired after lunch, so he agreed. Luffy laid down on the couch and picked Chopper up and let him lay on his chest. After a few moments, Chopper could hear Luffy snoring and it wasn't long for Chopper to join him in dreamland.

XXXXXXX

He wasn't quite sure how Robin found out; he thought may be that she found out when she rescued him after his first fight with Crocodile. But after she knew, she sort of reminded him of Makino. His first binder was ruined when he was stabbed by Crocodile. As a present for accepting her into his crew, she had bought him a few new ones. She helped Chopper with the daily reminders to take a break. Robin, also, made sure that they had enough pads in his size and enough painkillers. And would definitely help out on bad days.

It was one of those bad days, he could barely move. His lower back and stomach felt like they were killing him. Luffy chose to just to try and rest underneath the shade of the swing tree. His friends left him alone mostly; Zoro and Chopper checked on him every once in a while. This time, Robin decided to check on him.

"How are you doing, Captain?" Luffy groaned in response.

"Robin, I give up. Kill me, Zoro can have my meat," She just chuckled in response. Luffy felt himself being lifted up, and something being placed underneath of him. Once he was back down on the ground, he felt a rush of warmth on his lower back. Luffy nearly moaned in relief, it felt really good and some of the pain was receding. He smiled up at Robin, and thanked her. She smiled, shaking off his gratitude, as she sat down, leaning onto the tree. Robin picked up his head, placing it on her lap. Using her devil fruit power, she sprouted an arm to hold up her book, and with one of her other hands, she gently played with Luffy's hair, soothing him and causing him to fall asleep.

XXXXXXX

After the two year separation, everyone decided that everyone would get a day to tell about their training and what they had done for the last two years. Today was Sanji's day. For once, they were smooth sailing; a nice sunny day and not another ships to be seen for miles. They decided to have a picnic on the main deck, and eat while Sanji tells about Momoiro Island. As Sanji told them about the islanders, Luffy stopped eating and stared at the cook as he spoke with disgust and anger in his tone.

"They were just a bunch of ugly men in dresses, thinking they were women. Even worse was when their so called queen returned, I thought he was a woman at first but he tricked me and changed back to his real form. That Emporio Ivankov had me chased everyday and had the toughest fighters fight me. That place was hell, and I never want to go back there. Just thinking about that place makes me sick to my stomach," Luffy listened more as Sanji continued to insult someone he considered family and the people they protected. He bit the inside of his cheek, he couldn't really take it anymore.

He stood up, and walked over to Sanji. Everyone watched in confusion as Luffy picked Sanji up, lifting him over his head, and walked to the side of the ship and just tossed him off the boat. Luffy jumped up onto the railing and waited for the cook to resurface. The rest of the crew ran over to watch and figure out what was going on.

"What the hell, you idiot captain, I was in the middle of talking!" Luffy just frowned down at him.

"No, you were insulting someone for how they lived. I happen to know Ivan, and know what a great person they are. If it wasn't for them, I would have never made it out of Impel Down. They're my unty," Everyone blinked in confusion at the term 'unty'; it was Chopper who asked,

"What do you mean by Unty, Luffy?"

"Ivan is genderfluid, which is why they used their hormones to switch genders every now and then, and unty is a gender neutral term for someone you consider as an aunt or uncle figure. They helped me with the term," Luffy explained before turning his attention back to Sanji in the water.

"I happen to know that when people go to Momoiro Island, they go to be themselves, to be comfortable, to live without disrespect, to live without the fear to be misgendered, to escape their own hells. They may be thousands of miles away from us, but you're still insulting them. If they say that they are women, they are a woman. And that's that, you moron," Zoro, Robin, Nami and Chopper finally understood what was going on; that the people from Momoiro Island were transgender as well.

"Why the hell should you care? If they were women, they should at least put the effort to look like them," Sanji shouted back.

"That's not for you to decide. How they appear and dress is entirely up to them. You don't realize how much being called a male to their faces would hurt them. To have something they were trying to escape be thrown back into their face. Even if they're not here, you're still hurting them," While Luffy was talking, Usopp had thrown down a lifesaver and began to pull Sanji out of the water.

"Why do you care so much what I call them?"

"Because I'm trans like them, you idiot," The members of the crew that didn't know stared at their captain in shock, and Usopp had let go of the rope, letting Sanji fall back into the sea.

XXXXXXX

After the shock had worn off and they got Sanji back onto the Sunny, the crew had sat back down and let their captain talk, and Luffy decided to tell them the tale that he had told Zoro at the very beginning.

"For years, I lived with that uncomfortable feeling and when I met Shanks and he helped me out, I vowed I would never make a person feel the way I felt. That's why I respect Unty Ivan and all that they are doing on that island, giving everyone there a new start," After Luffy was done talking, his friends had a new appreciation for him and his red-haired role model. Sanji broke the silence afterwards to apologize to Luffy.

"Luffy, I'm sorry for everything I said. I didn't realize how much I was really hurting other people, and I didn't realize that you had personal experience with that," Luffy smiled, and patted him on his shoulder.

"I won't accept your apology until you also say you're sorry to Ivan,"

XXXXXXX

"This is Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm going to be the Pirate King!" Luffy yelled into the den den mushi, he was greeted with silence and then sudden laughter.

"You never change, do you, Straw Boy?" Luffy laughed back.

"Nope,"

"So how's my favorite nephew?"

"Aren't I your only nephew?"

"While if you want to get technically about it, Straw Boy, I don't even have any real nephews," Luffy just laughed at Ivan's response.

"I'm doing really good, I made it to the New World at last. Oh, I saw Jimbei, he says hi and he may be joining my crew which would be awesome," Sanji watched from the couch as Luffy continued to talk on and on, before he re-noticed Sanji.

"Oh right, I called you for a reason. I had a conversation with Sanji and I believe he has something to say to you and to people back on Momoiro," Luffy handed the receiver to Sanji.

"I would to apologize for things I had said when I was training on your island. The misgendering, the insults, everything. Luffy has been lecturing me on many things and I have learned I was in the wrong when I said those things. For that, I am sorry," Sanji could see Luffy smiling in the corner of his eye, but he still had a small bone to pick about how the training was done.

"No offense to Luffy, but I still think you guys over there are still a little sick in the head-" Sanji never finished his sentence because Luffy yelled into his ear.

"I take full offense," And he punched Sanji out of the way to grab the receiver.

"What is going on over there?" Ivan yelled into the phone.

"Oh, I punched out of the way to make him stop talking. I felt like he was going to insult you again and I wasn't going to have that,"

"You didn't have to do that. I'm used to it by now," Luffy frowned at that remark.

"You shouldn't be used to it, unty. I wish people would see past the gender stuff and see how awesome you are. You did so much for me at Impel Down and Marineford, and you're doing so much for everyone at Momoiro,"

"Aw, Straw Boy, you're going to make me start crying over here and I'm not wearing my waterproof mascara," Luffy was, then, pushed out of the way.

"I wasn't done, and I wasn't going to insult them. Well, sort of, I was going to say that they were a little sick in their head with how they conducted their training. There could've been a better way than to being chased by people every single morning and night. The no offence to you Luffy, was that you probably wouldn't have minded that part. Now, once again, I am apologizing for my behavior and how I treated people on Momoiro. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to change out of these wet clothes thanks to the captain," Sanji ruffled Luffy's hair before leaving the room.

"Wet clothes, Straw Boy?"

"I may have thrown him off the boat once he started insulting you," Luffy grinned as he made them start laughing again.

"Oh! I'm going to be talking to your father soon. Do you mind if I tell him about you?"

"You mean me being trans?"

"No no. That is only for you to tell, but I wanted to tell him how you were doing, about your crew and everything," 

"Oh, sure. Tell him I said hi, I guess. Even though I don't really know him. Also, tell him that gramps is fine if he wanted to know that too," Ivan hummed an affirmative.

"Well, Straw Boy, this has been a lovely chat. I'm glad we got to catch up, but I need to go soon. Make sure that cook of yours doesn't start treating you any differently than he already had," Luffy nodded, even though he knew Ivan couldn't see him.

"I will, and even if I don't realize it, I think Robin, Nami and Zoro can help set him straight. Take care now, unty Ivan. I'll call you again when Jimbei joins my crew!" Luffy set the receiver down and hung up. His stomach started to growl and he realized he never finished his lunch. Luffy smiled to himself, extremely happy with himself for once, before heading back out to the main deck for his food.

**Author's Note:**

> I am putting it out there that I am not trans myself, I'm only a demigirl. So I did research for this.
> 
> Also!  
> Unty is a gender neutral term for an aunt/uncle figure. And it's my personal headcanon that after Impel Down and everything, Luffy had started to consider Jimbei and Ivankov as aunt/uncle figures. He'd call Jimbei his uncle, and when he tried to figure out a term to call Ivan, Ivan helped him out and told him to call them Unty Ivan.
> 
> It didn't really turn out how I wanted it in my head, but I was also writing this with little sleep. Hope you like this!


End file.
